Get Help From Vendors – If They Provide It

Digital marketing helps partners "create a pipeline in real time," Walker told her audience. That's important when a potential client is close to making a buying decision.

Cisco, for example, can create and provide a suite of demand-generation assets, such as content, banner advertising, social media support, and video, to help connect with potential customers that the company can refer to partners, according to Walker.

"Customers are willing to share information about themselves, as long as we add value back," Walker said.

"You guys don’t have to [produce the content]; it's already there," and you can have it in real time, she added.